"It's a lesson for everyone," Dr. Huerta says of Trump 3:42
(CNN Spanish) -
The health of President Donald Trump is news this Friday in the world after the president announced through a tweet that he and the first lady, Melania Trump, tested positive for coronavirus.
In this episode, Dr. Elmer Huerta analyzes the public health lesson left by the diagnosis and recalls the recommendations of experts on how to prevent the disease.
You can listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform, or read the transcript below.
Hello, I am Dr. Elmer Huerta and this is your daily information on the new coronavirus, information that we hope will be useful to take care of your health and that of your family.
President Trump's state of health
Today we will see what public health messages we can learn after the president of the United States, Donald Trump, and his wife, Melania, announced that they have coronavirus.
READ: Chronology | Trump tests positive for coronavirus: who did he meet and where did he go before his diagnosis
For my work as a communicator, a health specialist for more than 30 years, I have always been attentive to the health of famous people.
When a prominent figure falls ill, it seems that what he has - however common it may be - suddenly becomes more important.
For this reason, the fact that a famous person becomes ill represents an extraordinary opportunity to review important concepts related to the prevention, diagnosis and course of the disease in question.
And that is what has happened after the announcement by President Donald Trump that his coronavirus test - as well as that of his wife Melania - has been positive, and therefore both have covid-19.
Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19.
We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately.
We will get through this TOGETHER!
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2020
Let's review, therefore, some of the most important public health aspects related to covid-19.
The first has to do with the prevention of contagion, which is one of the most important points that we have repeated in the more than 140 episodes of this podcast.
If a person does not recognize the seriousness of the problem and does not wear masks, does not keep physical distance and does not have adequate hand hygiene, they are more likely to be infected.
Health care measures and their politicization
And that is what has happened to Trump, a person who has not taken the disease seriously, or preventive measures.
He has scoffed at masks, rarely wears them, and on stage he challenged physical distancing, spearheading campaign events with thousands of people in close proximity to each other and without masks.
In other words, your infection teaches us that you can be the most humble or powerful person on the planet, but the message is the same: if the disease is not taken seriously and prevention measures are not practiced, the contagion arrives.
Second, it is important to know what is going to happen to Trump and his wife.
That is, could their health be complicated? Will they be fine?
Let's see.
At this time, it is very important to remember a concept that we have repeated repeatedly in the episodes of this podcast.
Who has symptoms and who does not?
About eight out of ten people who become infected with this virus have no or very mild symptoms.
These people will not need medicine and their recovery will be quick and complete.
On the other hand, 14% of those infected fall to bed with more severe symptoms.
They have a high fever, chills, headache and throat pain, muscle aches, diarrhea, a dry cough, and loss of smell, among other symptoms.
These people also recover, although many are left with sequelae.
Finally, 5% of those infected will develop a more serious illness, which will require hospitalization and intensive care.
Sadly, many of them will lose their lives.
Nobody knows which group Trump and the first lady will fall into: 81, 14, or 5%.
Third, it is important to remember that there is no specific treatment against the virus, so sick people will only have to receive medication against symptoms.
Coronavirus Treatments
We have already seen that neither hydroxychloroquine, nor azithromycin, nor ivermectin - which is used in some Latin American countries - are effective in combating the new coronavirus.
In other words, all the treatments that the Trumps will receive will only be symptomatic.
Fourth, and this is very important to Trump, you have to remember which groups of people are more likely to have their state complicated.
And as we have told you in previous episodes, risk groups include being a man, being over 65 years old and suffering from obesity, three characteristics that the president of the United States meets.
In that sense, Melania Trump is younger and has no known risk factors.
At this point, we have to say that the fearful thing about this virus is that - despite the aforementioned risk factors being known - it is not possible to predict who will have more complications in their health.
Is there a risk to the health of the president and first lady?
In other words, a person can have all the risk factors and - even if they are infected - their medical condition will not get worse.
However, another person in perfect health may have more complicated symptoms.
That is, at the end of the day, as they say, the fate of an infected person will depend on their defense system, as well as the capacity of their innate and adaptive immune systems.
For this reason, it is very important to repeat that this disease is real and that if it is infected, one may be in danger.
So our main goal should be to prevent it.
For that:
Wear a mask whenever you are away from home
Avoid crowds
Keep a distance of at least 8 feet or two meters from other people
And constantly wash your hands
These are the golden rules to avoid an infection, that as we are seeing it today, it does not matter if you are the most humble or the most powerful person on Earth, it will infect you if you do not take it seriously.
Do you have questions about the coronavirus?
Send me your questions on Twitter, we will try to answer them in our next episodes.
You can find me at @DrHuerta.
If you think this podcast is helpful, help others find it by rating and reviewing it on your favorite podcast app.
We will be back tomorrow so be sure to subscribe to get the latest episode on your account.
And for the most up-to-date information, you can always go to CNNEspanol.com/coronavirus.
Thanks for your attention.
If you have any questions you can send them to Dr. Elmer Huerta via Twitter. You can also head over to CNNE.com/coronaviruspodcast for all episodes of our “Coronavirus: Reality vs. Reality” podcast. fiction".
coronaviruscovid-19